Resident Evil: De Novo
by dust-sommelier
Summary: In the city of Valitettava, a virus outbreak occurs out of the blue, devastating the place within only hours. Mutants with excessively extra limbs, a rogue lab assistant, and new and familiar faces are what this incident have in store for Leon S. Kennedy. On top of that, he's getting a strange feeling of déjà vu. (Takes place in 2012, after the events of Damnation) (Updates Sun.)
1. Prologue

…

…

*WARNING*

*PROJECT NEO HAS BEEN COMPROMISED*

*A BIOHAZARDOUS LEAK FROM SECTOR A HAS BEEN DETECTED*

*ALL PERSONNEL ARE TO EVACUATE TO EXIT C IMMEDIATELY*

"WINTERS!"

The echoing of urgent footsteps echoed as a fair-skinned woman raced down the hall. Her gasps for more oxygen bounced off the walls as she pressed her hand to a biometric pad and slipped through the crack of the slowly opening door.

*WARNING*

*A BIOHAZARDOUS LEAK FROM SECTOR C HAS BEEN DETECTED*

*THREAT LEVEL: 9*

*ALL PERSONNEL ARE TO EVACUATE TO EXIT B IMMEDIATELY*

"DON'T THINK YOU CAN RUN!"

As fast as her delicate frame could handle, she impishly pulled levers to clouded pods, not even waiting for them to open even a crack. Her vision became fogged and lungs filled with the thick mist that flowed out of each pod she opened, coughing and waving her arms as she continued on through the automatic door into the next room.

*WARNING*

*PROJECT NEO SPECIMENS HAVE BEEN RELEASED IN LAB C*

*ALL PERSONNEL ARE TO EVACUATE TO BASEMENT ELEVATOR AND EXIT TO UNDERGROUND RAILWAYS*

"I KNEW I SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN RID OF YOU LONG AGO!"

She could see it. In her vision, she could see other personnel piling onto the elevator. Reaching out with a weak hand, she waved to them.

"Wait! Wait for…!"

They did nothing to keep the elevator open, fear in their eyes as to the beast tailing behind her.

Hearing the approaching footsteps of both man and monster, she raced around the corner to the stairs and, with hesitation, jumped down to the railing below and leaped back and forth as she went down.

"WINTERS!"

The voice echoed down the stairwell. She didn't dare look up. No, it would only slow her down.

A bullet rang past her and into one of the metal stairs above, then came in rapid fire. She tightened her jaw, not daring to close her eyes either.

*WARNING*

*A PERSONNEL HAS GONE ROGUE AND IS ATTEMPTING ESCAPE THROUGH STAIRWELL C*

*FIRE AT WILL*

More gunfire sounded by the minute as she continued her descent, her mind racing like a jet to find another way out. He was after her and now was everyone else. She was no longer seen as one of them.

A large thud sounded above her and this time, her head looked up. Her hand slipped and she found herself free falling to her death. Looking above her, she could see him. He was making faster bounds at her, effortlessly swinging down from railing to railing.

"DON'T THINK I'LL LET YOU GET AWAY THAT EASILY, WINTERS!"

Bullets continued to rush through the air. Despite some piercing her skin, her attention was on the remote in his hand, watching as he pressed it. Many floors below, platforms where slamming into place, each one closing closer and closer to her from under her.

*EMERGENCY LOCKDOWN NOW ENGAGING IN STAIRWELL C*

She heard a loud slam behind her and her body collided with the metal platform. She squeezed her eyes shut, hoping that the platforms were fast enough to keep her away from him. But when her eyes opened, he had slipped through the final platform between her and him. With a loud, yet more precise landing, he was only inches away from her.

Distant alarms could still be heard, but all she could hear was her heart beating in her ear as loud as an explosion. Without hesitation, he grabbed her by the collar, not giving any mind as her golden necklace snapped under his strength. She felt a sharp pinch in her neck and instantly went numb, unable to feel any inch of her body. Her wound ceased to hurt, as if that was to be a saving grace she could find in this situation.

Her breath grew heavy and his throat let out a deep chuckle. He reached into his lab coat and pulled out a syringe, the sight of it causing her heart to catch in her throat.

"You'll wish you wouldn't have done this to Project Neo," He flicked the slide of the syringe and gave her a ghostly gaze. As he approached her with it, she let out blood curdling screams, only to be heard by her and him alone.

…


	2. Chapter 1

"No… Please! Stay away… Stay away from…!"

The distant screams of a young citizen echoed off the buildings. It wasn't the first one to be heard, nor to be the last.

Lights flickered down the deserted streets. Shop windows were shattered and the insides looted for its goodies. Blood stained the sidewalks and sides of buildings, handprints evident of the struggle for survival against either criminals or the monstrosities that roamed the streets.

Hours ago, this fairly sized city was thriving with signs of life, its citizens blissfully unaware of what was to become of their beloved home. People didn't ever believe that what they heard on the news since the turn of the century would happen to them. They never thought that the worst could happen.

Not far from where the last scream was heard, a shadowy figure rested in an alleyway between a drug store and a boutique, its designer lines covered in blood and scattered throughout its quarters. Across the way was one of _them_ , dragging themselves through the street, extra limbs protruding from places they even remotely shouldn't. It let out a beastly cry, its unhinged jaw flapping around.

For a moment, all was quiet. If one were to close their eyes, they could see themselves in a much less disastrous place, a regular, old abandoned civilization from the 1800s. Anyone could see a western town destroyed by bandits far better than this.

Then, a gunshot ran out, zipping through the air and through the beast's head. Its blood painted the wall beside it, its limping body slamming into it and leaving a streak as it slid down to the ground. It screeched out into the darkness, begging God for forgiveness, for a second chance, before finally kicking the bucket.

A weary face revealed itself from behind its sniper rifle, chocolate-colored bangs unevenly parted at the hairline, cut at the cheekbones. Dull, blue eyes stared back at the fallen mutant, reflecting what little light there was out there. A soft breath escaped the lips of what could now be seen as a decently young male, stubble speckled on his face and above his lips.

A faint ring sounded from his pocket, accompanied by vibration. He reached his black-gloved hand down his back pocket, his gear shuffling, and pulled out a PDA, its screen lit with the words "Hannigan". Pressing his thumb against a button, a familiar female face flashed onto the screen. She was dressed in a typical office uniform, but wore complementing thin-framed, round, red glasses, her dark hair tied into a tight bun.

"What's the status of your mission as of now, Leon?" Hannigan spoke first, her focus clearly better than anyone he knew. Her deep, green eyes never ceased to break contact with him every time they made contact, on and off missions.

"If it was April Fools Day, I would have thought this was a insensitive prank," His voice made no effort to mask his snarky nature, which wouldn't have fooled his government contact anyways.

"What's that supposed to mean…?"

He gave a small grunt as he stood up from his position and took a wide range glance over the area.

"I've come in contact with hardly any eyesores since I entered city limits," Leon, who thought he just saw one, returned his gaze back to her. "I've passed by residential areas with hardly anything but already dead, mutated citizens,"

"That's odd…" Hannigan hardly raised a brow. "Reports said the streets were flooded with them just two hours ago," Her fingers tapped on her keyboard at her usual breakneck speed, her eyes wandering the many screens before her.

"Have you found anything on the cause of this?" Leon inquired, leaning against a store shelf, only for its products to fall to the floor. He looked at the mess, then dismissed it with a lazy shrug and turning is focus back on Hannigan.

"I haven't found much, but I have found some leads that could be of use to you on you mission," She went quiet for a moment, seemingly focused on something on her screens, and then focused back on him. "I sent you some information on what I've found so far. I'll contact if I find anything new on my end,"

"Never know what I'd do without you, Hannigan,"

The lady just shrugged her shoulders, giving him a small glare. "Maybe some other time, dreamboat," And that was the first time she was the one to hang up on him.

Leon stared at his own reflection on the screen of his PDA, then let out a exasperated sigh. He stood up and walked over to where the window of the store used to be and looked out once more. Although it was only an hour after sundown, the place didn't look like it was functioning normally just meer hours ago. It remind him of a city that looked like this weeks into a virus breakout…

Yet another scream sounded in the distance and dissipated into grotesque sounds of death. Crows circled around in the sky, seemingly mocking anybody who still struggled to survive.

or any trace of hope still lingering. It wasn't anything new. He'd seen it before and wasn't too sure he'd want to live it again, but...

He gave a nonchalant shrug, his bangs waving back and forth with his shaking head. "Somebody's got to clean up this mess…" His exasperated tone retained, but he knew it was what he had to do… and wanted to do.

…

The red lights still flashed, but the alarms ceased to ring. The halls were empty, only acidic footsteps melted into the tile flooring, trailing all the way out into the city below. The only place where people remained were on the very top floor, working in low light and in close quarters, hunched over test tubes and machines.

A man that reminds many of the tall, dark, and handsome type sits at a desk, sitting pretty and looking over his operation. Chaos and armageddon may be happening outside his window, at the world below, but that was the least of his concerns. In fact, it gave him a deep power within him…

…

Even with the lack of any threat nearby, there was no reason not to tread carefully.

He hadn't come across a single survivor as of yet. By the screams that have echoed into the nothingness, he had a funny feeling they were dead by the time he'd gotten remotely close to their location. Just a feeling.

It was hard to tell if this was an exact replica of the events of Raccoon City or a failed attempt of trying to shoot a realistic zombie movie. Sure, the news have given directors a lot to go off of, but…

An earsplitting screech rang out not too distant from Leon's position. The echoes of crashing and destruction bounced off the buildings and drew closer and closer. Keeping his eyes on the direction of the racket, he rose his rifle, gazing through its scope with a sharp, attentive gaze. For a moment, it seemed the threat disappeared, the creature not appearing anywhere, but then…

A metal trash bin was launched from where the sounds had been coming from, crashing into a shop window and shattering it to a million pieces. Prepping for the worst-case scenario, he hid behind the street corner, yet still kept his firearm focused in on the street across the way. Footsteps of reasonable weight lagged closer and closer, not quite heavy enough to make the ground shake, but just enough to threaten any survivors. As the impending doom drew nearer, heavy, deep, yet raspy exhales and inhales indicated that this wasn't one like the rest.

An outlandish beast of many unneeded, extra limbs dragged itself into the intersection, hunched over into almost an upside down L-shape. Moving its head around, seemingly smelling its surroundings with whatever type of mutated nostrils or nose it had, it had yet to see Leon, crouched only a few yards away, his gun trained on it. As if to warn others of its kind, it threw its cranium backwards and gave another blood curdling screech out into the sky, above the broken, fallen wires of the traffic lights.

It wouldn't take someone smart to figure out that this seemingly larger monstrosity wasn't like the smaller ones. Even though it had more limbs growing out of places where they shouldn't be, it was simply a more mutated beast than the more "realistic" zombies. This one looked far less human, its only human characteristic left being it walked on two legs-or what looked to be legs from afar. Though, nonetheless, this was nothing entirely new to him.

Its peculiar head stopped when it looked down the street, towards the relative direction of Leon. As the beast seemed to have developed great interest in what it saw, increasing its speed as it bolted, he gently caressed the trigger of his sniper rifle with the pad of his gloved index finger. He didn't move his body, yet kept his scope trained on the beast, who's breathing increasingly grew in volume and eagerness.

Leon waited for the sound of human screams or other beasts of its kind, yet only heard the echoing of it smacking obstacles out of its path dissipate into the distance, its tongue slapping around and dripping slobber on the pavement.

A bit baffled, he lowered his rifle and stood back up. With careful, quiet footsteps, he trekked out into the middle of the street and shined his flashlight down the way. Nothing. The mutant was gone. He gave a keen, skeptical gaze out into the emptiness before him.

"What party am I missing out on?"

Another screech sounded from behind and he did a 180 to find himself faced to face with a new one. An extra pair of arms coming from where its eye sockets should be waved hands with disproportionate eyeballs at him, its other pair too short to be of use. It intently gazed at Leon, moving its hands around to examine him from head to toe and around his body, the arms extending just a bit to make the reach. Drool dripped from an unhinged jaw, a lengthy, pointed tongue spilling out and almost touching the ground by a foot or two. He kept his rifle trained on the mutant, its other extra limbs too short to be of use wiggling around.

It soon took great interest in the barrel of his gun, squinting the eye of his right hand to look down it. Leon gave it a moment, letting it become well attached to the sight of the firearm, before pulling the trigger, sending a bullet through its eye and hand, spraying its blood onto its forehead. The monstrosity let out a screech of agony, its other eye rolling back into its-hand, and stumbled backwards and away from Leon. What looked to be very goopy tears formed in its only remaining eye as waved around the wounded hand. It whipped its cranium back towards Leon and let out a high-pitched roar of resentment, its saliva spraying onto the street and Leon's combat shoes.

"Oh, come on," Leon snarked, giving his head a short shake. "That didn't hurt that much,"

It responded with a howl of antagonism and bounded the short distance towards Leon, swinging its injured hand at his head, only to miss when he ducked and combat rolled away. As the angered mutant took a cooldown from its unstrategic swing, he took his aim at it and shot a few rounds of lead into his head, blood and God-knows-what squirting and splashing from the holes they left. It coughed up mucus mixed with blood, the odd mixture painting the ground, and fell to its "knees". When it looked up, Leon stood only a few feet above its field of vision. It let out a grotesque whine, moving its only working hand-eye to him. He grabbed the wrist of its hand and threw it straight to the ground, stomping it and smearing it into the pavement. Its body spazzed out in misery and screamed at the top of what lungs it had encased its mutant chest.

Leon pressed the barrel of his rifle to its head and sent rounds into it without hesitation, the gunshots echoing throughout the streets, just like its cries were only moments before. When its body weakened, letting out one last plea and grab for life, reaching out to him, before becoming destitute and limp in the middle of the street, he gently lowered his gun to his side. He kneeled next to its dead body, examining the many other attributes that couldn't be seen from afar. Its skin was full of boils and lumps, all the color of a light green mixed with a dark brown, looking like the color of vomit. Some of the lumps looked as if more limbs were coming in, wiggling just the slightest bit.

A shouting female voice sounded in the distance, but nothing came after. And again, all was quiet but the sound of flames licking the walls of business complex down the way. The small breeze, blowing through the street, threw a newspaper across the street and into the fire, turning into nothing but ashes within seconds. So much of this could be so easily forgotten. Lost to the flames of things like secret operations, greedy governments, and whatever was behind this incident.

It's like nothing has changed these past 14 some years.

...


	3. Chapter 2

...

In deprivation of what energy she had left, her small frame slammed into the brick building wall, slumped and holding her left forearm. Her brown hair was frizzy and unkempt, damp with sweat that dripped down her face. Her once white lab coat was ripped, stained with blood, and plastered with dirt from barely making her escape.

She didn't remember escaping. When she awoke, she was nowhere near the facility. She was laid in an alleyway, propped up against a dumpster, a dead body disposed of over its edge. Just as when her world went black, she had nothing but the clothes on her body. It was almost like he left her to die.

From where she stood at the side of the road, overshadowed by the building keeping her up, a rather resentful groan echoed from down the street. Turning her head, she could see it, not far away from her. It was the most human thing she's seen this night, despite the extra limbs it had that broke its way out of the clothes on its body. It was clear that this one was once a human like her only a matter of hours ago.

Even though the building acted as a protectorate to her position, she urgently pressed her back to the wall, breathing heavy as she watched the mutated citizen crawled in her line of view. Her heart was pounding. Even though she'd seen many of its kind before, she was still terrified, her entire body shaking and still.

The beast suddenly stopped advanced, causing her to jump inside her skin. Unaware of nothing around her but the monster before her, she kicked a can into the road. She watched with wide, green eyes as it to a stop in front of it, catching its attention. Curious, it look over in her direction. Its glossy gaze planted a scream deep in her lungs, but she swallowed it to her best abilities. She shifted as it kept its eyes on her, but remaining still to her best abilities. But the beast didn't take no mind, turning away and continuing its journey down the street.

She waited a moment, trying to catch her breath while listening to the sound of its groggy footsteps and low groans of disease. When all was quiet, she limped out into the street only to fall halfway and let out a shout. She sat up and, looking down the road, she could still see it, only yards away from her, but it again, paid her no mind, still trekking onwards.

Her breathing was still heavy, her chest falling and rising fast. Right then, she didn't care that she was sitting in a puddle of bloody water. Her mind was only on survival-and finding a way back.

As the deterred woman went through a strenuous struggle to get back on her feet, another laid in the shadows atop a nearby rooftop. Her soft, yet piercing brown gaze was fixated on the other, watching as she limped away. Pink lips curved into a small smile before turning away and walking deeper into the shadows.

…

With every step, his boots gave soft squeaks, the rubber soles damp with blood from his last encounter. Once again, he was face to face with yet another empty street. It was evident that things played out here hours ago. The common sight of blood and the occasional dead body along the sidewalks was one clue, but another was an absurdly large puddle of blood and amount of dead bodies had him thinking something else. Something much more… daunting…

"Hey… You there…"

The voice began to give deep, sickening coughs and Leon pinpointed its source. Leaning against a shop doorway stood a man, who fell to his knees and continued to cough, blood spraying the ground. Leon urgently dashed over to him, but when he got close, the weakened man put a hand up.

"Don't come closer…" He could barely get his sentence out before going into another coughing fit. Leon's eyes were fixated on the sizable gash in the man's side, still spewing blood out from under his hand. "Listen… I don't know what the hell is going on… But you need to get out of here…"

Leon gave his head a strong shake. "No, I'm not leaving anytime soon," He muttered to the man, giving a sharp gaze into his scalp. "Not while there's still these monsters crawling about," He was, for the most part, cut off by the man's coughs, hearing as they went from bad to worse.

"You're out of your mind, man!" He managed to croak as his coughing grew hoarse. "You'll turn into one of them if they don't kill you…!" He raised a shaky hand as he pointed into the street, where the pool of blood was.

"They kill and destroy everything that's in there way…" His voice turned hoarse, his hand falling into his lap as he coughed up more blood onto the concrete. "Our whole group… We were all torn to shreds… We had no chance in… fighting back…" His coughing became more erratic and was now vomiting blood.

"Please… I'm begging you…" Leon had to take a few steps closer to even remotely hear the man's plea. "Turn back… Forget you ever seen what you've seen…" He grabbed at his throat as more blood spilled from his mouth.

"High-tailing it out of here won't save anyone here that has yet to be killed," Leon muttered, looking away from dying man. "I didn't come here to watch people die, you know,"

The man gave a weak chuckle, holding his chest in relief of a break from coughing. "Well then… Take whatever you need from my shop…" He told Leon, struggling to lift his head and meet his gaze. "I don't need it anymore…" With a few more coughs, the man was gone, his body void of the life just there. Leon looked up at the shop sign, reading _William's Pharmaceuticals_ , scoffing before he looked back down at who he presumed to be William.

"Thanks, pal..." He muttered before stepping passed his body and into the store.

…

Upon leaving the store of the generous, late William, he wasn't far down the street when he heard the sound of B.O.W.s close by, letting out their cries of agony mixed with vengeance. He quickly dashed to the street corner in a slight crouch and ducked around the corner to check for any others, before racing across to the other side of the street. Before he could make it to the next street over, gunshots rang out in the direction he was headed. Crouching behind the corner, his side resting against the building, rifle ready, he intently listened as the gunshots continued. None of the bullets seemed to miss or rickashay off of nearby objects. He could hear the sound of B.O.W.s getting lead shot through them, but no sounds of any struggle between them and the attacker.

Leon peaked his head slowly around the corner. Not far down the street was the battle going down, but the one shooting was hidden behind the monstrosities. He watched them fall, one by one, to the ground, blood spewing and painting the pavement. By the looks of how swiftly and efficiently they were taken out, it would be his guess that the perpetrator was of high skill and experience. Someone of equal history with B.O.W.s as him.

The gunfire stopped, all mutants neutralized by the skilled marksman, who now stood ominously in the distance. The flicker of a nearby street light was the only thing that pierced the darkness that hid the figure from plain sight. But the only thing that Leon could see was a color: red. And he was for certain it wasn't blood.

The figure wasted no time leaving the scene, seemingly there one moment and gone the next when the street light shone back down.

Leon lowered his rifle to his side, letting it dangle by the strap a bit, but still keeping his hand on it. Curious, he walked down the street to the scene of the crime. Just as he suspected, they were efficiently taken care of, only a small amount of bullets having brought them down. He gave a heavy sigh, his eyes jumping from mutant to mutant.

"Why hello there, Mr. Government Agent…"

Hearing a voice come from behind, he quickly turned around and was met by an attempt to shoot lead into his skull. As the shot rang out and the bullet nearly hit his ear, he took a few steps back and aimed his rifle at his attacker, only for them to charge at him with a closed fist, forcing him to use his weapon as a temporary shield. The attacker didn't bother long with trying to land a hit and instead, knowing full well a man's weakness, and attempted to stomp their boot into his crouch. He saw their boot rising in the air and twisted his body around, dodging the cheap shot. While they were taking merely milliseconds to react, he aimed his rifle at their head when he came full 360. But they simply just kicked the barrel of the gun from below, pointing it up at the sky, as they backflipped, legs fanning out, making it back on two feet with a handspring. With a fair distance between them, they pointed their gun at him, a pink-lipped smile forming on their face.

"Quite the surprise seeing you here, Leon…"

…

The brilliant mad man sat at his desk, all prim and proper. He intently gaze at the monitor at his desk, giving a small smile at the surveillance footage. He watched as the rugged, DSO agent fought a B.O.W., the scientist's own creation, in the streets of the city below.

The man wasn't threatened, nor afraid, but quite rather intent. There's nothing better than a government agent with years of experience with these beasts to test his creations' capabilities. Especially a Raccoon City survivor.

As any office worker would do on a normal day, he lifted his coffee mug to his lips, taking a small sip, and set it back down to the wonderful tune of gunshots and a dying B.O.W. He zoomed in on the footage, catching a great look at the man's face.

"Don't think I don't know about you, Mr. Kennedy…"

…


	4. Chapter 3

"Ada,"

The red-clad woman gave a small smile, never lowering her signature weapon, handgun with a hookshot. Her clothing left nothing to anyone's imagination, the deep red catsuit-like attire tight around her legs, hips, and chest. Her brown eyes glowed in the low light as her pink lips smiled wider.

"If you're here, then that means there's something big behind all this, huh?" Leon, keeping his rifle trained on her, assumed and accused. Calling her a bad luck charm would be an understatement. Her black, chin-length hair even reminded him a bit of a crow, the tips like feathers.

Ada raised her shoulders, giving a small smile as she gently shook her head, her hair shifting back and forth. "Now why do you think I know?" Her voice wasn't annoyed, but instead was apologetic. Her several inch tall heels clicked on the pavement as she slowly stepped forward, one foot directly in front of the other, with her gun remaining trained on Leon.

"Because somebody's always got you doing their dirty work," Leon's voice was disapproving, the depth in his voice portraying one of a scolding father. He, too, refused to lower his weapon. In situations like these, it was hard for him to believe that the two of them were ever closely knit together. It's like their patience and trust for one another had died with the city all those years ago…

A snarky laugh escaped her lips, curving them into a wide smile. "Oh, come on," She slightly sighed and chuckled. She was only a few feet away from him now and her gun had yet to fall to her side. "It's not like I'm a knowledge base full of goodies to give you. I have my own business to attend to and own employers to please,"

She pushed the barrel of her gun into his forehead, parting his bangs as she wiggled it around. Her smile was taunting, but he just knew what this was. He knew she wouldn't even do it. She didn't have the guts in her to. Besides, what good what it do her? And what good did it do him to push his rifle into the stomach?

"Well, it's not like anyone would go on vacation with a gun," His voice didn't waver. He didn't move his eyes up to the firearm trained on his skull either. "Besides, it's only in disasters involving B.O.W.s that I seem to run into you,"

"You got me there," She pretended to give up with a relenting sigh, but her gun didn't move an inch. Her cheeky smile never fell and her deep gaze only looked deeper.

"What are you doing here?" He questioned her, his tone gruff, his gaze staring back harder. Ada was silent for a moment, only gazing right back and not moving a muscle.

"I'm just here to pick up what I need and leave, is all," As usual, she refused to disclose any further. "As long as my contact carries through their end of the offer, all will be well on my end," She took a step back, pulling the pistol away from his forehead, yet kept it aimed at his precious head.

"You know, I'm getting tired of being the one who goes after you from time to time," She smirked, giving a small chuckle, putting her fingers to the collar of her catsuit. "It would be a lot more fun if you went after me for a change," She pulled down zipper over her chest, stopping to the point where a normal person would fear a lady would pop out.

He gave a scoff of sharp disdain, but he figured that she knew they had yet to finish where the two of them left off. He wanted to believe he wasn't like other men, but that would be uptight-and untrue. Ada pointed her gun up to the sky at a slight angle and pulled the trigger, sending out her hookshot into the side of a small structure atop a nearby roof.

"Until next time. Leon," Before he could take a step closer, she reeled the wire back, her hook pulling her up the roof, and flipped onto the structure. The only hint Leon got that she left was her heels clicking off into the distance. He lowered his head and shook his head, heavily sighing.

"Women..."

…

Under the harsh, bright lab lights, sweat dripped down a scientist's forehead in floods. His face was red and his back hunched over a desk. His breathing was heavy, taking in oxygen in big gasps and letting it out in loud exhales. Footsteps were approaching, clicking on the tile floor as they slowly drew near. But the scientist didn't cease his work. His eyes continued to race across pages and the various test tubes and chemicals across the table, making progress with shaky hands.

A hand laid firmly onto his shoulder, grasping it tight. The scientist's movements halted.

"Mr. Morgan, if I knew you were just _dying_ to be a test subject, I would have given you the honor long ago,"

The weary scientist turned his head over his shoulder, his whole body trembling in a mix of chaotic emotions. The charismatic man of shadows stood behind him, his grip on his shoulder only tightening as he gave him a false smile of assurance, his lips tightly shut. The scientist began to shake his head, stuttering.

"N-No! No, sir! I don't! I-I really don't!"

"Really now…?"

With unbelievable strength, the man pulled the scientist up, his chair falling to the ground with an ominous crash. The scientist struggled under the man's grip, his legs flailing in air and arms grasping at his collar.

"Please, sir! I-I-I'm sorry! Please, g-g-give me another chance!"

The tall man looked over to the men in the corner, who were dressed in guard uniform, standing stiffly straight. He motioned for them to come over with a raise of his chin and the men took no time following command.

"Take him away. He's got a new job to do," He roughly shoved the scientist to the men, causing him to stumble into their grasp.

"Yes, sir!"

"N-No, please! You can't do this! You promised I'd see m-m-my family when it was all over! Please, sir! PLEASE!"

His cries drowned out as he was dragged out of the room. The rest of the scientists in the room didn't bat an eyelash or dare look over. They continued their work, hoping they were one of the lucky ones to get out of here.

…

Shots rang out as Leon set a round into a beast's head, its grotesque cries drowned out by the groggy groans of others. They were in successful in surrounding him, but they weren't making much progress dragging themselves closer before he wiped them out. Despite the enemies being easy targets, he refused to let his guard down or himself get too cocky about it.

It had been merely a minute till all were taken down and he stopped firing. He lowered his weapon and looked around the area, scoping out for any more of them. None had come to their friends' calls for backup, the streets silent once again, with only crows cawing above.

He would have continued his trek onwards if he didn't take one step forward only to hear footsteps nearby. Stopping he listened, hearing them come from the street only a few meters away. They weren't slow, but they weren't urgent either. Then, someone appeared.

A young girl was carefully treading forward, holding onto her arm. Her dark hair swished around as she looked back and forth in front of her. She seemed to jump at almost anything, such as a puddle of blood in the street as it barely splashed from her foot stepping in it. As her gaze came around, her eyes snapped onto Leon, her eyes widening. She took a few short steps backwards, cowering into a hunch, before turning around and making a run for it.

"Hey, wait!" He called out, raising his hand to her, but she didn't stop. He wasted no time in starting the chase, racing off into the girl's direction. Turning the corner, he saw her not too far ahead of her, gasping for air as she continued to run. Although they passed through many intersections, she didn't turn, only continuing to bound forward. It was only moments before Leon wasn't far behind. She could see him in her peripheral when she slightly turned her head to look, causing her to make a sharp right. He skidded a bit, making a quick stop to be able to continue the chase.

The girl finally stopped, having found herself face to face with the dead end of an alleyway. She grasp the wall for a moment before turning around and picking up a rock.

"Stay away from me!" She cried out, sweat dripping down her forehead as she threw the rock at Leon, hitting him in the lower leg. He let out a small grunt, cursing under his breath as he bent down to touch it, only for another rock to land in front of him.

"Don't come near me!" She continued to shout, making a fair attempt at chucking various nearby objects at him. "Please! Don't hurt me!" Her throws were slowly turning more into tosses and tears started to roll down her face.

"I'm not going to hurt you," Leon told her, his voice trying its best to sound gentle. "I'm here to help," He held a hand in front of him and slung his rifle to his side.

The girl stopped mid-windup in throwing a soda can at him. She lowered it and opened her eyes to him. She wasn't much shorter than Leon, looking to be around the teenage years. She was fair skinned, her hair almost as dark as his, and her eyes a shade of dark, mocha brown.

She still hunched over into a protective stance, gazing at him with tears running down her cheeks. "B-But why do you have guns…?!" She managed to speak to him, eying the machines of destruction, not taking her eyes off of them. Her whole body was trembling.

"I work for the federal government," He continued, taking his chances and stepping forward. "I was sent in to take care of the breakout," He felt relieved to see her grow less fearful, her stance straightening at her eyes no longer focused on his firearms. Things would have gone smoother than this if Claire were here…

The girl looked away from Leon and to the ground. "I've heard people speak of virus breakouts like these before, but I never thought… it would happen to my home," She sniffled, another tear falling down her face.

Leon gave a heavy sigh. "It's not easy to detect breakouts like these before they happen," He too looked away, into a puddle of blood beside a black trash bag. "They've gotten better at keeping their operations out and away from the public eye. In plain sight as well…"

She looked back at him, her eyes still full of tears. "Have you dealt with things like this before?" she inquired, sniffling.

He stared off into the puddle of blood. "Yes," He plainly put it. "In fact, it ruined my career as a police officer. Made it to the big leagues before I got the chance to start off my life like every other person," Moments like these were when he wished he had a drink on him,

She went silent, but didn't take her eyes off the side of his face. "Who are you anyways?"

He turned his head back to her, shaking off thoughts of reminiscing. "The name's Leon," He spoke, trying his best to force a friendly smile. "Leon S. Kennedy." He held out his gloved hand to her.

"Stella," She responded, taking ahold of his hand. "Stella Woods," She shook his hand, kind of at a loss of energy after the chase only a minute before. Her tears were nearly dried up by now, her cheeks only damp. Once things were calm enough, Leon approached closer to her, pulling out the small first aid kit he had. Stella had several injuries, mostly just cuts and scrapes with only a handful needing to be wrapped in gauze. The most noticeable one were the fairly large gash on her arm, blood dripping down her arm. Leon disinfected the wounds and covered them with bandages and gauze. If they weren't already infected, it would make her very lucky. Areas like these weren't anywhere near sanitary.

"Thank you," Stella softly expressed her gratitude as he packed his first aid kit back up. Her smile was small, but it showed that the tension and fear she was feeling minutes ago was almost nothing now. But, despite how slow it took for it to appear, it vanished when she looked past him, her eyes widening in fear as they were before.

All the poor girl could do was point and take steps back into the wall behind her. Leon turned around to look behind him. Considering how disruptive the chase was, it was to be expected they would eventually find the two of them. He took notice to how most of the mutants were wearing remains of clothes, holes torn in the fabric where extra limbs grew and protruded out. Civilians that have turned.

He pulled his rifle from his side and aimed it at them. Taking advantage of their slow speed, he took time to explore the small group of monsters for an opportunity. With not much luck, he shot a few rounds into a couple of them, their blood spewing out of the entry holes and their bodies falling to the ground. Lucky for him, the ones right behind the fallen ones didn't have enough time to react and ended up stumbling forward. He took the upperhand, shooting their heads full of bullets before they could recover. This time, the tides didn't turn in his favor and the others still impeded onwards, beginning to corner him with the young girl.

The mutant in the front, with three arms protruding from its fleshy head, waggled his arms around and began charging forward. Stella curled into a defensive stance, squeezing her eyes and turning her head away from the action. She listened as shots rang out. Seeing a vulnerability in the beast's reckless ambush, he waited for the perfect moment as it came closer. With the beast only a few feet away, he lunged his foot forward and ever so slightly sinking his foot into its meaty torso, sending it soaring backwards into the remaining others, all of them tumbling to the ground. Its body left an interesting goop on the sole of his boot, the substance oozing off it before he put it back flat on the ground. Raising his rifle and lining up the shots, he opened final fire at the pile of gorey mass, releasing the turned citizens' souls free.

When all signs of life in them were gone, Leon turned his head around to Stella as she emerged from her defense curl. She was no longer afraid of the beasts, but now gave a wavering gaze between Leon and the dead bodies that lay sprawled on the ground before them.

"Come on," Leon motioned his head towards the street. "We have to keep moving," He didn't wait for her to respond, just turned away and began the walk out of the alley. Stella was still, her eyes locked on the dead body and the blood on the pavement for a moment longer, before tearing herself away and jogging to catch up to Leon.

…


	5. Chapter 4

…

Progress. He loved it.

In the hours following the incident of the rogue scientist, he and his team of remaining, exceptionally talented scientists have made tremendous strides forward. Luckily, in the favor of Project Neo's progression, only a few weak links, scientists who showed to be incompetent, have been taken care of. It was obvious there bodies weren't fit to work excessively without a great, medical push from the inside, so they're doing his work in ways better for the both of them.

"Sir, we have made a breakthrough," A weary, yet determined scientist approached his desk, holding a dirty clipboard, stained with blood and mucus of sorts. "One of the test subjects have presented your desired outcome…" He waited till his employer dressed his hands in surgical gloves before handing the report to him. The brooding gentleman skimmed the dampened sheets of paper, searching for what the young man spoke of. Moments passed, then he saw it, a crooked smile spreading across his face.

"Excellent… You know what to do now, yes?"

"Yes, sir. We will execute the next step immediately."

…

He was onto something.

Stella couldn't tell, but Leon could. The number of mutant encounters were increasing. Most of them were the common, extra-limbed creatures, but more evolved beasts were beginning to appear.

"Well, I would agree that is something," Hannigan acknowledged, her head nodding in an undeniable manner. "But do you have any clues on this progression?" Her green eyes presented the persistent higher-ups egging her on for intel from the government agent, but that she has yet to stagger in her duty.

"My only guess is we're getting closer to the point of origin," Leon responded, his gaze lifting from his PDA to the surrounding area, his other hand on his rifle and Stella remaining close by, her hand on his upper arm. "Or the man behind the curtain is making headway without our knowledge of who he is," Distant groans of what awaited them further ahead made the young girl uneasy, drawing closer to him with now both hands on his arm.

His government contact tapped on her computer, her gaze averted from him and on her monitors. "I have your coordinates, as well as the route you've taken so far since entered the city," She spoke, pulling images and reports up on her end, each one having almost every bit of information on his journey so far: satellite images and footage, each time he entered combat, even intel on Stella. "By what I have on my end, you've-" Static abruptly began to interfere, her voice and face seeming to fade away.

"Hannigan, I'm losing you," Leon shouted out, his brows furrowing and his grip tightening around his PDA.

"So-on- -st -e i-t-e-ng -ith o- co-ec-n," Hannigan's voice cut in and out, along with her image. "Le-n, I'- go-g-" The screen was engulfed with static before it got any better.

He pounded his thumb against the device's button, his grip tightening even more. "Dammit!" He cursed under his breath, his voice low and his breathing slightly heavy. Sliding it into his pocket, he turned to Stella, who let her grip on him go and lifted her chin to look up at him.

"Do you have any clue as to where we're headed," He inquired, giving a small shrug of the shoulders. Despite showing frustration mere seconds ago, his blue eyes softened up to her.

Stella removed her gaze from him and looked around the area around them. Stores nearby were a mix of high-end and budget, some of them being tech stores while others were offices of varying professionals, some of those professionals seeming to still linger in the form of their dead bodies.

"I believe this is what's left of downtown," She returned, her gaze now back on him. "Some of the larger, possibly more corporate businesses are here. Like ones you'd see in other cities,"

"And one of the more crowded areas, it seems," They'd seen a lot of blood so far, but this area had more, along with more dead bodies, than they've seen yet. Shops were beyond looted, buildings crumbling from God-knows-what came through here, and vehicles parked along the street crushed and beyond repair.

Leon looked over in the distance. The city's buildings only grew taller from there, gradually becoming the like of other cities like New York and Chicago only shorter. Smoke rose from several of the high rise towers, flames licking up their sides and rubble occasionally falling to the ground below.

"Something tells me that we should head thataway," He conveyed in a low tone, his gaze locked on the destruction ahead. "The disaster looks to be surrounding what could be the origin of the outbreak," Stella looked up at him, her brown eyes enlarging and her eyebrows drawing together.

"Alright then," She faintly replied, giving a small nod. "Let's get going," Leon took no time in stepping forward, not looking back at Stella. She watched as he walked towards the calamity without much a care in the world, yet knowledgeable of what may lay ahead. Her thoughts were disturbed when she noticed he was gaining distance between her, despite him not breaking a normal pace. Giving a heavy sigh, she raced to catch up to him, her feet splashing in the puddles of either blood, water, or both.

…

" _Stella, run!"_

 _The screams... The flames... The destruction... The monsters…_

" _But…!"_

" _GO! NOW!"_

 _She was taken aback by the person's shouts. There strength wouldn't last much longer. The monsters rising in numbers behind the door. Arms began to crawl through the cracks in the door. The person's eyes were damp, trembling._

" _Please... Just go…"_

 _She looked into their eyes. Despite their pleas, she couldn't stand to just turn and..._

" _But I can't just…!"_

 _An arm swung through the crack in the door and grabbed the person by the shoulder. They let out a cry, the monster's claws digging into their shoulder. Another arm swung around and grabbed their left calve, pulling them into the door._

 _A hand grabbed her wrist. She whipped her head towards the hand's owner._

" _Come on, Stella! We have to go! Now!"_

 _The other person gave her no time to hesitate. No time to look back. No time to say goodbye._

…

"BUAAAALLLLAAHH!"

A mutant with an arm for a tongue jumped out of the woodworks and at the pair. Its groggy groan snapped Stella out of her thoughts and her head whipped towards the source of the cry. It flailed around, flopping its lower limbs forward, bounding right towards her.

"Watch out!"

Leon stepped in front of her, putting himself between her and the beast, and raised his rifle to its head. Only a few rounds put it down, its corpse falling to the ground and ceasing to live. Her breathing was heavy and raspy, holding a hand to her chest and feeling her heart pound. But despite it no longer a threat, seeing it made her skin crawl and unable to catch her breath.

"Quite the rude awakening, huh?" Once again, she was cut out of her tunnel-vision, but this time by Leon's voice, her head snapping up to him. His blue eyes looked right into hers, giving off a slight shine to accompany his small smile. But it soon disappeared as he looked in front of them, towards the fiasco awaiting them. "We can't afford to let our guard down. Try to stay attentive, alright?" He looked back to her, his expression a mix of seriousness, yet assuring her no harm will be done to her. Her small nod gave him the cue to head onwards, turning his head back to the road ahead of them and continued walking. She made no haste in keeping pace with him.

Now, things were relatively quiet. The only sounds that echoed through the streets were things crashing and flames flickering, along with the occasional groan of a distant mutant. To her, it seemed like Leon wasn't the one for small talk. He seemed more focused on scouting the area ahead, clearing the way if he needed to and remaining watchful of their surroundings. She understood why, considering him being a federal agent in the middle of a mission and all. She couldn't blame him for giving her an ever so slightly cold shoulder. But the way he carried himself… I made her curious of him...

"Is Miss Hannigan your boss?" Stella asked him, finally able to speak, despite being such a pointless question in their current situation. They were here, in the midst of some zombie apocalypse, while she was… anywhere else but here.

"No," Leon shortly answered, his firearm remaining raised and his attention ahead of them. "She relays orders from our higher-ups to me. Other than that, she's pretty much on the same mission as I am. Except she's in a distant office and not out on the field like me," He stopped moving for a moment, changing his attention to nearby sounds, then relaxing and lowering his rifle, yet keeping his grip tight.

She stopped beside him, looking up at him, then to the ground, kicking at the gravel and small rubble that littered the street. "So," She murmured, her eyes focused on a small rock as she kicked it and watched it awkwardly roll across the street and into the side of a trash can. "Who is your boss?" She didn't lift her head back up to him, but only to the road in front of them.

"I can't name names," Leon muttered, currently preoccupied, his gaze on something in the distance. "But they're in fairly close ties with the president. That's all I can really say," He rose his rifle once more, peering down the scope with one eye closed. His lips parted as he squinted his open eye, a few low breaths coming out of his lungs.

She now looked back up at him, her eyebrows attempting to meet at the middle. It was incredibly hard to tell facial cues of someone she just met, especially someone as stoned-faced as Leon. She was sure he wasn't like this most of the time and didn't mean to come off as intimidating. But she was also sure that he's seen enough of this crap and wants to get it over and done with so he could get the hell out of this… well, Hell on Earth.

"Leon," Her tone came off as meek, her heart seeming to climb up its throat as if it turned into one of those… things. She could swear it was growing extra limbs to aid itself in its journey up her esophagus too.

The government agent didn't tear his gaze away from the distance. "Yes?" His mouth remained open and his breathing just audible enough to reach her ears only a foot or so below. She couldn't see much of anything indicating interest, the idea helping in on her heart up her throat.

Her mind was too busy to turn her attention to another pebble on the ground, her foot only kicking one a few feet in front of her. "Am I a bother to you?" She spilled to him, her own breath growing in volume, then decreasing as she attempted to keep her inner beast down.

There wasn't much time between her question and his reply. "No," He responded in a slightly baffled tone, one of his dark eyebrows curving into an arch. "Why you ask?" He made a quick turn to the left ahead of them, a distant sound of something peculiar catching his eye. His whole body was stiff, the only thing moving being his eyes and normal involuntary moment.

"You're… in the middle of a mission and all," She began, feeling that every word, every syllable that came out of her gave her heart time to reach her lips. She swallowed and gasped for a breath to buy herself more time. "I feel like I may be a hindrance… Being defenseless and all…" She now felt foolish, her head to the ground and her attention struggling to escape from the onslaught of oncoming emotions.

Leon stopped his inspecting, his eyes coming to a stand-still. "You're not a bother, Stella..." He spoke in a soothing tone, a sudden overhaul of his supposed mood, lowering his rifle and turning his whole body to her. "I may be on a mission to get to the bottom of this disaster, but that doesn't mean I can't save any survivors while I'm here," His attention was fully on her now. And, to her surprise, her heart left her throat and nestled back into its rightful place in her chest.

"I'm an outbreak survivor," He continued, his mind going back to that time. "Raccoon City. My first and only day as a police officer. I wasn't able to save the many that were there that day. Only two, in fact,"

"I swore on that day that I would put an end to Umbrella and what they've caused," His determination was fleeting, shaking his head and sighing as he lowered his gaze. "But even with them through, these things keep happening. People still take what they did, shape it into something new, and wreak havoc once again,"

Stella felt her heart tightening her veins inside of her, almost in a form of strangling. "Leon, I'm sorry I asked," There was her meek self again. Her fears and weakness didn't make her seem worth saving to her.

"Don't be," He instantly retorted, giving a shake of the head. "You deserve to know. Especially when you're going through the same thing," A small smile could be seen, a bit of smirk if you looked close enough, spread across his face. And once again, her heart stopped torturing her from the inside.

"HUHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA….!"

A monstrous cry in the form of nightmares sounded close by. Stella pressed herself close to Leon, grasping at his arm once again. This time, it wasn't her heart that stood out, but the shaking of her entire body worried her to the point of believing she'd go into a seizure, despite having no history of them whatsoever.

The approaching thing's hoarse breathing was growing closer and closer, now accompanied by loud, threatening footsteps. The sounds of something dragging sent a chill up her spine. Its voice was groggy and deep, only letting out dreary groans. Leon grabbed her by her wrist, her breath nearly catching in her throat, and pulled her into a nearby, destroyed building. As it drew nearer, the once curious sounds turned into sounds of clopping, as if a horse was making the racket with its horseshoes and hooves.

Leon kept his hand on his rifle, keeping his eyes trained in the direction of the brooding groans. There were a series of crashing noises, all sounding closer and closer as every moment came and went. Then, there was an eery silence. All seemed still. It was quiet enough to even hear a pin drop across the street. The crows from before returned, circling above and crying out their sickening harmony.

"I think it's gone," Stella spoke in a soft voice, barely audible, even to Leon.

There was a loud crash, the building across the street corner breaking in the middle, windows shattering and bricks crumbling, and the top half began to slid off bottom half. Stella covered her ears with her hands, squeezing her eyes shut as she trembled in a tight curl. The structure made its descent into the street and soon Leon realized they were in its line of destruction.

"Run!"

He grabbed her wrist, pulling her up and out of the building, dragging her into the street away from the impact zone. To Stella, it was like slow motion, her life flashing before her eyes as she looked back at the falling structure. She trusted Leon enough to make it out of the way in time, yet she silently began to greet the already fallen.

The building crashed into the ground, the rubble of both it and the building it impacted with dispersing out, flying in several directions. The impact it made sent the two of them flying forward, the ground shaking below. Leon pulled Stella down into the street along with him, the two of them landing with a much quieter thud that the building had. Leon put himself above her, shielding her from the airborne rubble and debris that came their way.

The hellish, satanic cry was heard again, this time much closer than before. Close enough to hear the beast's ghastly breathing that sounded like hyperventilation, one that shook you down to the core. Stella's entire body shook under Leon, make a blind attempt in reaching out to him, but failed when he stood up. He took ahold of her trembling hands and pulled her up from the pavement, the young girl giving unnerved gasps for extra air. Leon turned himself to the scene of the destruction, Stella cowering behind him yet looking from behind to look as well.

The sound of something dragging continued, this time very erratic and daunting, sounds of flesh oozing and scraping off more noticeable. And in the shadows and clouds of dust, its bulging, red eyes shone through. It perked up its crooked back at the sight of the human survivors, gruesome cracking of bones sending shivers down Stella's spine. It turned its head sideways a bit further than a 45 degree angle, making a low groan as it started, seeming curious. Then it threw its head back, its neck unbelievably flexible, and raised up a pair of dreadfully long arms towards the sky, waving them around in an abnormal manner. Its entire body rose, presenting them its lower half: a creature that looked to be his twin, but instead on its hands and knees like a horse. The human half was just that: half of a human body that morphed into the back of the horse-man. Yet neither half were human. They were like the others, yet collectively larger in size and their bodies consisting of bare flesh and muscles, but had extra limbs of varying sizes scattered around their bodies.

The horse half raised its front 'hooves' off the ground, pushing its weight onto its knees. It made a similar sound to what appeared to have been from the human half, except with a hint of horse-like sounds, its gory lips flapping about.

Leon took a step back, keeping his eyes on the large atrocity as he guarded Stella with an outward arm. "I mean, to each his own, but this is just too far," He mumbled under his breath, readying his finger on his rifle's trigger, partially gazing down the scope.

Body still trembling, Stella put her hands on Leon's arm before her. "What do we do?!" Her voice trembled and sounded close to tears as she didn't let her eyes leave the B.O.W. Her eyes watered and trembled, her fingers digging into his arm.

The B.O.W. slammed its hoof hands back down with a tremendous thud, the ground shaking on impact, causing Stella drawing closer to Leon's side. The horse-part made the sound of blowing raspberries with its slimy, stretched lips that sagged about a foot from its mouth. As if it were a bull, it gazed intensely at Leon as if he were wearing a bright red outfit. He shifted his rifle in his grip and took another small step backwards, Stella nearly knocking herself backwards.

"Stay back," His voice was the most tense she's ever heard it. His ocean eyes were narrow, eyebrows furrowed with his gaze locked on the target. In size comparison, the nuckelavee was larger than him by a long shot, but wasn't the biggest B.O.W. he's encountered. Despite its large size, it was not much bigger than a semi. More threatening than a semi, too. He was more than certain that one wrong move and it would… knee him across the street. But he wasn't about to back down.

Raising his firearm at the mutant, he put himself in a defensive mode as he scouted for a weak point. Somewhere he could hit to bring it down. Leon taking aim at it apparently got it going enough that he decided to make the first move. The beast let out another angered screech, moving all his limbs in sporadic movements, hitting nearby debris and sending them flying. Then, it took no time in barreling towards them, the horse-man's hooves clapping the ground with loud reciprocation. Drool dripped and splashed from its lame lips as it bounded forward, one of its primary arms swooping into the air and dragging it across Leon's path. Dust and dirt blew upwards and he shielded his face with his arm. Stella looked at the beast with wide eyes, trembling as she did when he first came across her, and took off towards a nearby building for shelter, breathing short and heavy.

The dust was clearing and Leon lowered his arm, only for the horse's head to meet him, face to face, and give a high-pitched scream. The soundwaves made a valiant attempt it pushing Leon over and into the street, but he kept his feet plastered to the ground, not putting his hands to his ears, but instead, taking aim and firing into its face. It let out another screech, this time in pain, lifting its front hooves up and slamming it onto the ground in front of Leon, creating something like an earthquake. The impact shook the ground enough that he began to stumble, teetering to get his balance back, only to fall on his rear and roll backwards.

"Leon!" Stella's cry was drowned out by the hooves of the B.O.W. slamming on the ground as it neared Leon, leaving her to simply watch it play out before her. He used his hands to push himself off the ground and stand up, bolting away just before the giant human hand would have smashed him to a pulp in one strike. Buildings nearby crumbled, creating more dust and destruction with each pound on the ground.

He soon discovered that he couldn't outrun the beast as it was able to keep its red, blaring eyes on him as he changed position. Each swing of one of its hands that led to a miss fueled its temper, its breathing increasing in volume and speed. Attempting to grab Leon out of the air in mid-jump, it swung an open palm. He swiftly dodged, its hand smashing into the concrete wall of a building. Before it could pull away, a large chunk fell and landed square on its hand, pinning it to the ground as the beast let out a screech of agony into the night sky. Taking the opening, he aimed at the back of its head and fired multiple rounds, proceeding to draw more screaming from it. It leaned its head back, its neck cracking, to look at Leon from upside down. It reached its only free hand towards him, only for it to miss again as he skillfully jumped out of the way in time.

By now, he made it full circle, back to being face to face with the horse-man's face. Once again, he relentlessly fired into its face, the head crying out in pain. In his peripheral, Leon could see the free arm making its way around, palm open. He retreated his attack and made a run for it, but his back was met with its huge palm. He was sent soaring at a neck-breaking speed through the air and into the side of a building with a soft thud, knocking the breath out of him.

Stella brought her hands to her mouth, her eyes watering as she watched him gasp for air on all fours, wheezing and coughing. A gasp escaped her lips as she saw the beast ready for one final swing, reeling its arm back. Still choking a bit, he turned himself around to a sit position and slowly attempting to stand up. He met eyes with the horse-man once more, it letting out a low breath of exasperation to him. To her, everything was moving in slow motion. Even as he readied his rifle, she felt it all coming to a close, right before her eyes. Yet again, she was powerless, unable to intervene, unable to help.

Shots were already ringing out, but a single, new shot sounded. It was too fast to see, but a bullet came whisking through the air and hitting directly in the nuckelavee's neck, blood spurting out.

It gave a new cry, this one almost damaging to the ear drums. Whipping its head around to seek the attacker, another bullet was shot into its neck. It slammed its hand mere feet away from Leon, then pulled it back up to use as defense from attack, but to no avail. The shots just kept coming.

Moving her gaze from Leon, Stella could see who the shots belonged to. The figure was mostly dressed in shadows, hiding out in the upper floor of a nearby office building with an exposed inside. What she could see was the slightest bit of white clothing, but nothing of determining characteristics.

While looking for what she already had found, Leon locked his sights on a nearby fuel tank at the horseman's foot. Without hesitation, he fired his rifle at it. The bullets whisked through the air, and soon, the canister bursting and erupting into flames, not too long after his shots rang out. The blaze spread, covering the nearby buildings and blanketing the B.O.W. from its back legs to its scalp. Its hair-raising screamed bounced and echoed off the high-rises, shaking all its limbs about in an odd form of stop drop and roll. The screams became more high-pitched as its visible inner flesh quickly burned, the smell nobody would want to smell at a barbeque filling the air. Flames roared alongside the beast's dissipating demonic screeching as its layers fell off, one by one, in dark, burnt slabs. Its blood spewed everywhere, painting the ground with a puddle. It look as if it was melting into nothing, the burnt flesh quickly becoming ashes that laid in its blood.

Its groans diminished into nothing. Only the crackling of the blaze remained, the bright colors licking the walls and the pavement. The crows had disappeared. Everything was quiet.

Remembering their hero, Stella whipped her head back to the nearby building. The spot where they stood mere minutes ago was now empty, so sign of them in sight. Nothing that she could see was left behind. Almost like a faded memory, a strange imaginary friend.

Leon gave a low grunt, drawing her attention to him, Standing up, he looked at the now empty space before him, where the threat once stood before him, ready to finish him off. Once again, he narrowly dodged the end of his life, given another hour to stay alive in this destroyed city.

"Leon!" He turned his head to see Stella jumping out of a broken store window and make a dash towards him. When she approached, he turned his whole body to her, his rifle now at his side. Her breathing was the slightest heavy as she stopped to catch her breath in front of him. "Are you alright?!" Her brown eyes beamed with concern as she looked up and into his eyes.

He gave a modest smile of assurance, accompanied by a short nod and shrug. "I've dealt with worse," His response came out in a bit of an unintentional chuckle, in an unconscious attempt to lighten the mood. But, his face returned to its stone, serious expression, turning his head to look around, eyebrows furrowed.

"Who was that?" Stella stared into the side of his head, her tone coated in curiosity with a bit of shock.

He turned his head back to her, an eyebrow slightly raised. "Did you see someone?" He inquired with a peaked interest. His tone of voice conveyed a bit of belittling of the young girl, but it was clearly unintentional.

"Over there," He turned with her as she turned and pointed to the side of the building where the person was. "In that building. I couldn't see their face, but they wore white," She watched as he squinted his eyes, taking a few steps forward to get a closer look from where the two of them stood. But he, too, could not see any traces of someone being there the minutes before.

The blaze still burned, licking the walls and debris around the area. It seeped onto the back of a car and, within moments, the car exploded, causing Stella to jump and lean towards Leon. Pieces of metal clanged as they fell to the road. The vehicle continued to be submerged in flames, crackling and burning.

"We should get moving," Leon looked down the street ahead, blocked by the fallen high-rise, then turned to look around for another way. "We've got to the bottom of this," But he didn't move; he just kept scanning the area.

"Maybe we'll run into them again," Stella inquired out loud as Leon locked his gaze on a path. Her heart wasn't racing and her breathing was calm, yet she still remained emotionally shaken, a bit uneasy. But nowhere near as much before.

Without an immediate reply, Leon began walking forward, his mind on many things. A lot of this was still a mystery to him. They haven't got much of a clue as to who or what could be behind all of this and why. It really was a bit like Raccoon City all over again. Except this time he knew only a bit more than he did back then. He knew what these zombie-like mutants were and how they came to be, but everything else is beyond him without any leads. They have to just keep moving forward to their guessed point of origin…

The aging man let out an exhausted sigh. "Maybe…"

…


End file.
